Barclays Closes US Carbon Desk In Latest Cap-And-Trade Setback: ‘A major European bank closed its US carbon trading business this week in sign that 2012 is a “make-or-break” year for cap-and-trade’

'London-based Barclays determined the US carbon market, currently comprised of a handful of states, is too small to justify the expense of a dedicated trading desk in New York...Barclays was a major player in US greenhouse-gas trading programs on the East and West coasts and remains active in Europe's carbon market, the largest in the world...'That is not good news for carbon-dioxide trading, especially not in the US'